This is a sporadic blog to share my point / crocheting and genealogy efforts, and to boast of my hairballs. I am also going to put the buttons of my favorite shopping sites from time to time. Hope you are of interest to you, too.

First, I primed my entire eye area with Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion (a deluxe sample comes with this palette).Then, with the UD brush (included in this palette) I swept Virgin (nude satin) under my eyebrow and inner corner for a highlight.With, a Sigma E25 blending brush I took Naked (buff matte) from my crease blending up to just a little below your highlight.

And, with a MAC 195 brush I applied Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream #3 (shimmery silver) to my eyelid as a silvery base.

With, the clean side of my MAC 239 brush I put MAC's Satelite Dreams (Deep Plum Pearl) on the rest of my eye lid and in my crease. Blending any harsh line with my MAC 217 brush. I also applied it to my lower lash line.

I haven't blogged in, well, it feels like forever. I have had so many things I wanted to write about, but I just haven't had the time wanted to. I have been very LAZY. I had an amazing photo shoot with this lovely lady here, climbed up 4 mountains, picked up my dress for my brother's wedding, and so many more fun things I could talk about. I just don't know where to start. How about some pretty pictures?! Sounds good to me!

Emily is a mutual friend of Matt and myself. I met her through one of Matt's bandmates. She is such an amazing photographer, as you can see in her pictures. I am so glad I met her! A few of the photos she took are below! Enjoy!

Okay, so as most of you know I am not too keen on working out. It's not that I don't like to, it's just that when I start a workout regiment and don't see results almost immediately I will stop working out. I lose interest. I know that I will never be able to see results that quick. I grew up cheerleading and have always been in really good shape. Now that I am not doing that anymore, and have been being a bit of a booze bag, I am not as in shape as I used to be. I am not complaining about my weight at all, because I think I am the perfect weight, there are just some areas that I would like to work on. I just need to get motivated, or maybe have a workout partner to keep me motivated. That is the only way I will stick to a routine.

That being said, some of us decided it would be a great idea to climb 3 mountains. You heard me right. Climb 3 mountains, just for FUN. We climbed Franconia Ridge in The White Mountains in New Hampshire. It was a 9 mile hike from beginning to end. The very least, it was tough. Let me show you what I am talking about.

{ That was SUPPOSED to be fun }

I will say, however, it was very rewarding a week later. You know, once I recuperated from my legs almost falling off. Matt said I kept walking like I was doing the robot, so you can only imagine. Here are a few more photos from that trip:

{ Matt and Taylor pretending to drive Harley's }

{ A Lord of the Rings reference, IDK }

{ Little Haystack }

{ Matt and I, kind of blurry }

{ View from Little Haystack, looking at Mt. Lincoln }

{ Matt and I arrived at the top of Mt. Lafeyette }

There are many more pictures, i just don't want this post to be absurdly long. I shall put more up during another post! Some more highlights from this trip include:

-On the way up to New Hampshire, because it was bike week, about a million motorcycles passed us. On one of these said motorcycles the was a very large woman. She was driving the bike and clearly didn't notice that her pants had fallen down passed her bum and her thong was showing to the entire world. So funny.

-The word "Marginal". Taylor and Emily kept saying this word the entire trip. I asked repeatedly what it meant, only to be ignored. (they thought I was joking) Finally, I had to stop one of them and ask what it meant, only to find out it means "Mediocre"! I'm not that good with words!

-My lovely boyfriend chewing on a tree branch, only to find out it was infested with spiders. YUCK!

-As we were climbing up the first mountain I kept smelling poo. Taylor kept telling me it was the mud. "Shawna, it's the mud. It's only the mud." Come to find out, it was him crop dusting all the way the mountain!

-We met a woman who was climbing the MOUNTAINS with nothing but chapstick. She had circled us probably around 3 times. When she finally met up with us for the last time, we asked her where her water was. She claimed she could "drink her water vapors" from sweating. She actually called herself a camel!

-Endless stops for handfuls of trail mix and pp&j sandwiches.

-And Brian saying he wrestled a bear, only to find out he actually fell and cut him arm pretty bad. He did this while he was RUNNING down the mountain...Silly boys.

Here is a little video Matt made about our "hike"!

We stayed at a hotel about 5 min away from the base of the mountain. We swam in the indoor pool from which we received many scrapes, played in the overly bubbly and blazing hot hot tub, had 3 noses that were burned on the inside from sniffing too much in the sauna, bags of popcorn, and The Dark Knight and Star Wars movies! So many good memories. Overall, it was such an amazing weekend!!

Kyle Dean Massey, previous Fiyero u/s and...Fiyero, has stated in an interview that he will return once again to the role of Fiyero on Broadway, replacing Richard H. Blake, allegedly on August 16th, mere days after I see the show! We wish him luck in his return to the show!

Hey All!! I have very exciting news! I am seeing WICKED on Broadway on August 13th, 2011, at 8 pm, and then again in Pittsburgh, with the 2NT on September 23, 2011! I am so excited. Best Birthday present ever. I am totally going to review each show for you as well :) I look forward to it!!

Wicked was my first Broadway show. It was the first show I was ever somewhat familiar with, I remember hearing Defying Gravity the first time, and asking my mom if by "flying off the handle" meant flying off the broom handle. "Did she get hurt?" I always loved the CD whenever my mom would play it in the car on the way home from school. In particular, Defying Gravity ALWAYS stood out to me as an outstanding piece of music, even before I was obsessed with the show. Going off on that topic a bit, I love the music in the show so much. There is not a dull moment in the score. All of the songs are so much fun, but they are so...real, and direct, if you listen to the words. Even Popular holds a political undertone... "Did they have brains or knowledge? Don't make me laugh... they were Popular. Please. It's all about Popular." I think that holds a very important message, and is very relate-able on many levels, again, I love Defying Gravity to pieces. I've listen to countless renditions of it every single day, for the past 6 or so years, and I never have ever once gotten sick of it. For Good is amazing as well. I love the political themes of No Good Deed too, as well as hearing actresses just completely sing their face off. In my opinion there is nothing not to absolutely LOVE about the amazing lights, costume, and sound. I don't know another show that is so visually stunning, or has a cooler, or more unique sound So many different colors, and it's just a very bright show. I love the Emerald City, and Defying Gravity lights. All of the actors in the show inspire me in some way, and I am so happy that so many people who have been IN this show have gone on to have AMAZING careers on Broadway and otherwise, like Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Adam Lambert, Norbert Leo Butz, Laura Bell Bundy, Eden Espinosa, Stephanie J. Block, and Aaron Tveit to name a few of the many. I follow all of these people's careers to this day, and they never fail to amaze me. I love everyone who has ever been in WICKED for different reasons. I think the fan base is absolutely amazing. So many people go in expecting to see some lighthearted show, and have a good time, and come out in tears, never to be the same again. I love that everyone has heard of it, and how a part of every day society it has become. It has been referenced, or featured on lots of TV shows (Ugly Betty, The Simpsons, Psych etc..) and referenced in other Broadway shows (Shrek, Nunsense etc...)

I also believe that this show teaches kids, and really, everybody a very important lesson about friendship... Often times people shun other people due to something that makes them different than everyone else. Glinda originally made this mistake with Elphaba. Just because Elphaba is green does not mean she is any better or worse than anyone else. Someone could potentially be your soulmate, and look funny, or speak differently, and you would never know, due to the fact that you do not get to know a person before judging them. I think this is one of the most simple, but important themes in the show.

The biggest reason (Which I didn't fully understand until a few years ago): When people say that everyone can relate to this show, they don't just mean that everyone has been bullied and treated like an outcast in school, and they weren't well liked, even though that is absoulutley true. I have been through it! It happens to everyone at some point in their lives. But the "Green Girl" can literally be ANYONE. People get confused as to why Elphie is such an outcast because she's green. Well, when you are in school, yeah, it might be because you are "green." But in the world, it could be, again, racism, or it could be because you are disabled, or gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender etc..., Middle Eastern, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, overweight, underweight, "ugly", rich, poor etc... as the Wizard says, "The best way to bring folks together is to give them a really good enemy." And unfortunatley, that is true. I am not starting a political debate here, but according to the producers, The Wizard was based on George W. Bush. Today there is discrimination against Iraqi's, simply because of their nationality. We have been led to believe that they are all evil, because of the fact that there is a group of people that do bad things that hail from their country. Gays are also discriminated against in society because they were born a certain way, that they couldn't help. People do not realize that it is the way things are, and it is natural. They were born that way, and it is nothing to be ashamed of. Its being "born green." Elphaba represents so many people.

Many people expect to go see WICKED and thing that it will be a light, fun, but overall meaningless show, but next time you go see it, I encourage you to look deeper into the plot, and see if you understand the deeper meaning. It may take you a while to fully understand some of the political themes, like it did for me, but you will, and you will better understand this amazing story of friendship.

Hey All! So it feels like I am constantly just posting casting updates on here! That is useful, but this is a WICKED fan blog, and I am going to attempt to do more than just post who the next Elphabas and Glindas are from now on! :D I am going to begin posting some things where I just kind of talk about the show itself, and things that Interest me about it. Which is a lot. As most of you know I have seen the show 10 times, with an 11th time hopefully around the corner a bit later this year. I have seen the Broadway company of WICKED 3 times. I have seen the 1st National Tour 6 times. I have seen the Chicago Sit-Down company 1 time. Now i love all the different casts of WICKED quite a bit. They all have something incredibly special about them, even the ones I have not seen! I am just going to take a few minutes to discuss the three companies I have seen. I love the Broadway company for the homeliness it has in the Gershwin Theatre. The Broadway company is also currently a melting pot of previous cast members from many different casts of WICKED, as well as some faces that were never in the show before. I love all of the cast members in the Broadway production. I love seeing people coming to their first Broadway show there, and I love seeing people coming to see it for the 40th time :) Wicked has made such a home in NYC and I love it. I love the 1st National Tour company the most of any other company of WICKED that has ever existed. It is my most seen company, and I have just bonded with the performances on the road. I think they are an extremely tight-knit group, and traveling continues to make the show fresh over and over again, performing in new venues and new cities. I love hearing about cast member's adventures while they are in different cites, and communicating with them. This is not some 3rd Rate Tour, with a downsized set, and a crappy cast. It's the real deal. It is identical to what you would see in NYC. I love the 1st National Tour. Plus, what is not to love about the EXTREMELY kind people that are part of this show? I loved the Chicago company as well. I saw them RIGHT after they opened, at the beginning of an extremely successful 4 year run. I loved that there was a sit-down production of the show that had an equal fan-base (rightfully so) as the Broadway company, and it was directly in the center of the country. It was very accessible, and lots of new talent was "discoverated" there, many of whom have ended up on Broadway, Tour, LA, or San Francisco, and even Down under! There was a strong sense of community pride in Chicago to have such a smash hit musical staying for an indefinite time period. WICKED in Chicago ran longer than the vast majority of shows ON BROADWAY run. That says a lot about the fan-base for this show.

My Next "talking" post will be what I believe the show means, symbolically, and literally to me, and to others.Thanks!Defy Gravity!

This is a easy, shimmery, lilac eye look. That is great for the summer!! First, I primed my eye with Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion. You can use any primer of your choice.

Then, with a MAC 139 brush I applied Buxom's waterproof Stay-There Eyeshadow. In Beagle, which is a shimmery lilac color.

I applied Make Up For Ever's eyeshadow 141. Which is a gorgeous, shimmery, burgundy color. In my crease with my Sigma Makeup E45 brush. And then with the same brush blending out any harsh lines. I also put MUFE's 141 eyeshadow along my lower lash line.